COR 



216 



COR 



• Corinth, marriage to the exiled monarch, Medea was so enraged 

 *— '"•/"■-*' at the perfidy of her husband, that she murdered her 

 children, burnt her palace to the ground, and fled to 

 Athens. It is said, that Glaucus, to increase the swift- 

 ness of his mares, precluded them from all intercourse 

 with the males ; and that Venus, enraged at this indig- 

 nity offered to her authority, inspired the mares with 

 such fury, that they tore their master to pieces when 

 returning from the celebration of some funeral games. 



He is said by some to have been succeeded by his 

 son Bellerophon, who received that name from the mur- 

 der of his brother Beller, for which he was expelled to 

 Argos ; but it is more probable that Bellerophon was 

 expelled during the life of his father, and that at his 

 death, Ornytion, a younger son, ascended the throne. 

 From him the sceptre descended through a long line of 

 descendants for upwards of 400 years ; but as their 

 names are associated neither with the history nor poetry 

 of Greece, we shall suffer them to remain unnoticed. 

 It is said by some that the last of the race died childless ; 

 but by others, that the supreme power came into the 

 hands of two brothers, Doridas and Hyanthidas, who 

 were forced to resign the sovereignty by Aletes, one of 

 the descendants of Hercules, who ascended the throne. 

 The kings of the same family who succeeded him, proud 

 of their origin from that hero, called themselves Hera- 

 clidse, to the fifth generation ; when Bacchis ascending 

 the tin-one, changed the family name, of which his an- 

 cestors boasted, into that of Bacchiadse, derived from 

 his own, and under that appellation his posterity sway- 

 ed the sceptre of Corinth for about 400 years. From 

 •Archias, one of these kings, Syracuse the metropolis of 

 Sicily derived its origin ; and about the same period, in 

 order to carry on their commerce with distant countries, 

 the Corinthians invented those ships which, from their 

 peculiar construction, were called triremes. 



Telestes, the last of the family of the Bacchiadse, 

 was only in his infancy when his father Aristomedes 

 died. His uncle, Agemon, who at first governed the 

 kingdom in the name of his nephew, soon usurped the 

 •sovereign power which he exercised during sixteen 

 •years. He was succeeded by his son Alexander, who, 

 after reigning 26 years, was killed by Telestes, who at 

 that period asserted his right to the crown, and succeed- 

 ed in the enterprise. He, however, abused the power 

 which his valour had gained ; and in the twelfth year 

 of his reign he was deprived of his life by two of his 

 own kindred. 



At his death, 200 of the principal Bacchiadse assumed 

 the government, which now became aristocratical, uni- 

 ted under one of their own body, whom they chose as 

 president, and who bore the name of Prytanis. In this 

 manner was Corinth governed for about 240 years, 

 when Cypselus, one of the Bacchiadse, prompted by the 

 response of an oracle, formed the ambitious design of 

 subverting the power of the aristocracy, and placing 

 himself upon the throne. His wisdom and valour ac- 

 complished his design, and having reigned thirty years, 

 he died and resigned the sceptre into the hand of his 

 son Periander. This prince, at the beginning of his 

 reign, gained the affection of his subjects by his mode- 

 ration and justice ; but forgetting the virtue and hap- 

 piness which he then practised and enjoyed, he became 

 by degrees a tyrant, equally an enemy to the peace of 

 his family, and the prosperity of his kingdom. After 

 having murdered many of the nobles of Corinth, com- 

 mitted incest with his own mother, put to death his 

 wife Melissa, and banished his son Lycophron for weep- 

 ing over the ruins of his family, he died, and, by the 



meanness and ignorance of a barbarous age, was en- G 

 rolled amongst the seven sages of Greece, because in 

 the midst of his cruelties and debaucheries, he had paid 

 some attention to learning and its votaries. 



We should willingly have adverted to some of the 

 memorable revolutions which afterwards happened to 

 this country, but as the limits prescribed to us will not 

 admit of it, and as, from this period, the history of 

 Corinth becomes identified with the history of Greece, 

 of which it may now be considered as a province, we 

 must refer our readers to that article for an unbroken 

 narration of its future history, (n) 



CORINTHIAN Order. See Civil Architec- 

 ture. 



CORIOLANUS. See Rome. 



CORIS, a genus of plants of the class Pentandria, 

 and order Monogynia. See Botany, p. 136. 



CORISPERMUM, a genus of plants of the class 

 Monandria, and order Digynia. See Botany, p. 83. 



CORK, a well known substance in very general use, 

 is the exterior bark of a tree of the oak genus, the 

 Quercus Suber of botanists, which is indigenous in the 

 southern parts of Europe and Asia Minor, and is abun- 

 dant in the south of France, Spain, Portugal, and Italy. 

 The cork trees are fit to be stripped of their exterior 

 bark at fifteen years old ; but, while young, this ope- 

 ration ought not to be repeated till after an interval of 

 three years. Older trees may be safely barked for 

 eight successive years, and should then be allowed to 

 rest for two or three years. If not stripped artificially, 

 this outer cork-bark splits and peels off naturally, in 

 consequence of a new growth forming annually under 

 that of the preceding year. The quality of this useful 

 substance improves with the age of the tree. 



It is taken off in sheets or tables of considerable size, 

 from the entire stem or body of the tree ; being cut 

 circularly at top and bottom, and also perpendicularly 

 in portions of convenient size, and then peeled off by 

 means of a knife, resembling a hay spade, and similar- 

 ly used. Or, after the circular and perpendicular inci- 

 sions are made, which cut off the connection of the cork 

 from being nourished by the parent tree, it is left for 

 some time to loosen from the under bark, when its se- 

 paration is easily effected by the hand. After its sepa- 

 ration from the tree, the Portuguese, who chiefly sup- 

 ply Britain with this commodity, prepare it for sale by 

 reducing its cylindrical curvature nearly to a flat in the 

 following manner. It is piled up in ponds or ditches, 

 with the hollow side undermost, and loaded heavily 

 with stones ; and this operation is afterwards more com- 

 pletely effected in a damp ceUar, by which means it be- 

 comes nearly flat. This is called laying the cork ; and 

 it is afterwards dried completely over a strong fire, 

 which operation is called burning the cork. Some per- 

 sons satisfy themselves with this single operation, in 

 which the convex side of the cork is laid to the fire, and 

 continued over it till it becomes flat. From negligence 

 in this process, the article often receives too much heat, 

 which gives the blackness so frequently seen in articles 

 made of cork. When sufficiently flattened, by being burnt 

 or roasted rather on its back, the other side also is sub- 

 jected to the operation of the fire, so that both surfaces 

 are partially charred : and though this operation is some- 

 times carried too far by the Portuguese, it is also some- 

 times not sufficiently performed, as our cork-cutters 

 have often to repeat it in this country before it is fit for 

 their use. During this operation of burning, the Por- 

 tuguese peasants are careful to cover up all holes or cre- 

 vices, by the artful introduction of soot arid dirt. Be- 



Cork. 



